Day 1B of the Borgata Fall Poker Open Championship has come to an end and after 8 levels of play it’s Wayne Lewis leading the way with 167,600.

David Gerassi

Shankar Pillai is on his heels with 149,100 and David Gerassi rounds out the top three with 146,400. Other big stacks from this flight include Scott Blumstein, Fernando Halac and Darren Elias just to name a few.

There are approximately 210 Day 1A-B survivors returning on Monday November 20 at 12 P.M. noon to resume Day 2 play. Michael Lavenburg from Day 1A will return with the overall chip lead of 229,325.

Tournament registration will remain open until the start of level 11 tomorrow or approximately 2:15 P.M.

Below is a look at some of the big stacks and players from this flight that will be returning. A full list of chip counts and Day 2 seating assignments will be posted as soon as they’re available.

Borgata.com held a Borgata Poker Seat Entry Sweepstakes and over 3,500 players entered but only one lucky player would win a free entry in the $2,700 BFPO Championship Event.

That lucky player was Richard Riviello and he has joined the Day 1B Championship field.

Riviello will have his work cutout for him with the “End Boss” Tony Gregg seated to his left. He hasn’t let the tough competition phase him and has already chipped up to 50,000 nearly doubling his starting stack.

Riviello will surely be one to keep an eye on as the tournament progresses and he will look to turn his freeroll into some cold hard cash and his fist Borgata Poker Open title.

Zhaoxing Wang is another player that has been on fire this series. He started it off with an $11,000 cash in last weeks Saturday Series as part of a 15 way deal. Wang then notched two more tournament cashes before trying his luck in last nights $400 NLH Saturday Series event.

Once again he made a deep run and found himself coming into the final table third in chips. He was able to chip up and with the elimination of Kathleen Waterhouse in 10th just nine players remained.

They agreed to stop the clock and after some negotiations a deal was struck. Wang took home his impressive fourth Borgata Poker Open trophy and over $17,000.

He has now earned over $350,000 in live tournament cashes and after a long night of play he has just joined the Day 1B BFPO Championship field.

At the end of level 6, on table 9, Fausto Valdez near min raised an under the gun open from Frankenberger. The sizing picked up only Shankar Pillai behind, the blinds folded, and Frankenberger made the call.

Andy naturally checked to the raiser on , Fausto declined to cbet, and Pillai checked as well.

Fausto counts out the river bullet while Frankenberger looks on.

The mostly blank brought in a club draw, and Fausto bet 3200, a little under half pot. Pillai folded quickly, and after a short pause, Frankenberger called.

With the table silent, Andy again checked on the . Now Fausto fires 8800.

Longer pause this time, then with a rapid movement Frankenberger shoots the chips into the pot.

Fausto turns over black nines. No good – Andy slams down to win the pot.

Next Lexey Gavin in one open limped, and Shankar Pillai raised. More action, however, as Shawn Daniels then three bet. Folds all the way back to Pillai, who does continue.

The action is check check on a favorable board for Shawn, , and a small bet on the turn wins it without contest from Pillai.

Now with the button on Stevan Prager, the pot goes unopened – it’s a serious table – and Prager pops it to 2000. Frankenberger calls out of the small blind and Fausto, now under starting stack, doesn’t take the price.

The flop comes very hard for Frankenberger to continue – . Steven puts out a large cbet in the form of a blue chip.

Looking unhappy with all these developments, Frankenberger folds.

Prager in a briefly serious mood, gathering in the small pot.

“Just a small pair?” guesses Prager.

Daniels has 42,000, Frankenberger now over 60,000, Pillai very strong with nearly 120,000, and Valdez is under 25,000.

John Yanni got his series off to a red hot start winning his first BPO and over $27,000 after taking down the $500 NLH Black Chip Bounty just nine days ago in Event 2. Just a few days later he locked up another $5,000 in cash as one 13 players to survive in the $560 Super Survivor Event.

He is showing no signs of slowing down and is now sitting behind a mountain of chips on Day 1B of the Fall Poker Open Championship.

Yanni is playing 140,000 and looks to have moved into the chip lead with Charlie Hawkins right on his heels with about 135,000.

The players are now on a 15 minute break and we will pick back up on the action when play resumes.

Charlie Hawkins on 18 has the apparent lead with 133,000.Jackie Liu, having a strong FPO, on 13. The Satellites didn’t pan out, but now she’s here to punish. “She’s been beating us all up – especially Darren [Elias]” was the word.Blad sighting: Table 15. Mathew Cerbone and VIP are in the background. He’s a little under starting.

Day 1B Borgata Fall Poker Open Championship field continues to grow and we are now nearing the million dollar guarantee. The familiar faces are filing into the poker room and the reigning WSOP Main Event Champion Scott Blumstein is among them.

Blumstein’s previous largest career cash before winning the WSOP Main Event came right here in July’s 2016 Borgata Summer Poker kickoff event. He bested the massive 2,368 entry Event 1 field to earn nearly $200,000 and his first BPO title.

That got the ball rolling for Blumstein who would then become a part of poker history winning the 2017 WSOP Main Event for $8,150,000 and the coveted WSOP bracelet.

He has come back to where it all started and is playing just above the 30,000 starting stack here in the early levels.